

All the flexible panels currently available use mono-crystalline silicone cells, and even though they are encased securely inside a flexible material these crystalline cells can still develop microscopic cracks under pressure that will reduce their power output and shorten their lifetime.

When the water evaporates, there is a small circle of dried debris that blocks enough sun to cause a power loss. This, in essence, caused each cell to form a shallow bowl which collects dust that any moisture will push to the middle of the cell. The thin covering over the cells (3mm thick) was not sufficient to keep the cells from “cupping”. The most serious problem we noticed was during a spell of 90 to 95 degree temperatures last summer. Greg (the owner of AM Solar) had covered the roof of their personal RV with prototype flexible panels in 2013, and they had proven to have some major issues – as detailed in his original report: Flexible FrustrationsĮven before we started – we were already aware of some yellow-flags around flexible panels. If only we could find a way to make it look good. We were always open to the possibility that maybe glass would win out in the end. We absolutely wanted to discover flexible panels that would be suitable – and we managed to get several representative samples to test.īut – the goal was never “flexible or bust”, and we even added a traditional glass panel to our testing arsenal. We were under the assumption that “Only thin panels that can meld with the roof lines will look good on our girl”, and we set out to find out whether any of the new crop of thin and flexible solar panels would prove worthy of the task. Testing a variety of solar panels while boondocking at Winchester Bay Marina. We knew from the beginning that keeping our curved-roof vintage bus looking good was going to be particularly challenging.
#360 siphon rv fume extractor install
We expect that this will require somewhere between 500W to 1000W of solar, with the ultimate goal being to install as much power as we can while still looking good. Our goal is to design a system for Zephyr capable of powering the bulk of our typical energy needs for several days without needing to regularly resort to a generator. When we began researching our Solar Challenge – this is what we set out to accomplish: Included will be our on-going testing results of comparing flexible panels from GoPower, Renogy and Grape Solar.
#360 siphon rv fume extractor series
New! We’ve added an entire Solar for RVs series to the blog with lots of articles on the topic. Yes, the blatant foreshadowing is true – we at last have solar panels mounted on top of Zephyr.Īnd… it may be a bit of a surprise to some… we didn’t go thin and flexible! Or you may have noticed that Cherie teased about leaving me behind visiting friends at AM Solar while she headed off to visit her mom in Florida.

Heading towards Mono Lake, with solar on top.įor those of you who have been paying close attention, you might have seen a little extra something perched on our roof in the last few photos we’ve shared online.
